Rototom Sunsplash 2013 - Day 1

By Francesco "Versoescondido" Iampieri on Tuesday, December 31, 2013 - Photos by Mauro Sindici - Comment

Report of DAY 1 with THIRD WORLD, ROYAL RUDES, MORODO AND CHAKA DEMUS & PLIERS.

The 20th annual Rototom Sunsplash festival was held for the 4th consecutive year under the Spanish sun. This year’s festival was intended to host the largest amount of people from all over Europe and the World. The theme was “Love”, the universal Love which was displayed on faces and hearts, both young and old alike as they flowed into the small city of Benicassim this August. The forefront line-up was full of new and contemporary artists, and also older classics from Jamaica’s past music scene.

Rototom 2013

The inauguration was on the night of Saturday, the 17th of August and the opening was dedicated to one of the most popular bands, Third World. They presented an amazing concert in celebration of 40 years of a great career, with songs from their successful albums like Journey to Addis, Arise in Harmony, or 96 degrees in the Shade. As a testament to their continuing talent, they also presented some of the songs from 2010’s album, Patriots.

The following is the winners of the “Latino Contest” Royal Rudes and Black Talent, from the small Colombian island of San Andres. The audience was totally excited for the bands sound, which is an excellent mix of reggae and Caribbean influences. The victory is well deserved, and Europe is awaiting another live performance.

The Spanish Morodo enriched the stage right before midnight. He is famous in both Spain and Latin America , where he often successfully performs. His reggae and hip hop songs had everybody dancing to his beats, with references to marijuana, world injustices, and education. He performed songs from his three albums, Tu Eres el Fuego, Babilonia, Rap n Party o Yo me Pregunto. His fourth album is about to be released, and we are certain that it will be a new international success.

The inseparable Chaka Demus and Pliers closed the first nights main stage, yet the people were still not tired, still dancing and moving their arms and legs lively to the rhythm to Murder She Wrote, Tease Me, Bam Bam and She don’t let Nobody. The central stage closed, but the show still went on all night long for Rototom people. Dub, Ska, Roots and Dancehall area until the next morning. The party was just getting started…